


tying you to me

by SeeTheVision



Series: folklore [4]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Taylor Swift, M/M, Moving On, Non-Linear Narrative, Royalty, past markhyuck - Freeform, past renmin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:49:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26428144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeeTheVision/pseuds/SeeTheVision
Summary: "You know how it is as well as I do, Donghyuck," Jaemin sighs, removing his crown and running his fingers through his hair. He can still feel the weight of the gold circlet, the ever-present reminder that his life belongs to his country, not to him. "There's no room for love in lives like ours."Donghyuck's eyes bore into his, carrying the hint of a challenge. "Do you really believe that's true?"
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Series: folklore [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872076
Comments: 18
Kudos: 83





	tying you to me

**Author's Note:**

> (loosely) inspired by invisible string by taylor swift
> 
> (this is the 4th part of a series, i recommend reading the other 3 first!)

_Time, mystical time_

_Cutting me open, then healing me fine_

_Were there clues I didn't see?_

_And isn't it just so pretty to think_

_All along there was some_

_Invisible string_

_Tying you to me?_

  
  
  


"You know how it is as well as I do, Donghyuck," Jaemin sighs, removing his crown and running his fingers through his hair. He can still feel the weight of the gold circlet, the ever-present reminder that his life belongs to his country, not to him. "There's no room for love in lives like ours." 

Donghyuck's eyes bore into his, carrying the hint of a challenge. "Do you really believe that's true?"

***

As soon as the banquet welcoming Jaemin to the palace of the Northern Kingdom is over, Princess Heejin escorts the visiting prince to her sitting room, where she immediately kicks off her shoes and collapses onto the velvet sofa, tucking her feet under her despite her billowing gown. “Thank heaven that’s over with,” she groans.

Jaemin merely raises an eyebrow at the lack of propriety, taking a seat in the armchair by the fire. Heejin isn't just Jaemin's fiancee; she's his best friend. Since the moment they were old enough to put pen to paper, they bombarded each other with letters. Through the years, they visited each other as often as their royal duties allowed. Once, Jaemin thought it would be enough. He could be happy with a marriage built on friendship and the hopes of both their countries.

But that was before Renjun.

A third figure enters the room before Jaemin can get lost in his heartache. The newcomer rolls his eyes at the princess. “Honestly Heejin, can’t you stay presentable for more than a few hours at a time?”

As Heejin sticks her tongue out at her brother, Jaemin takes the opportunity to study Prince Donghyuck, heir to the throne of the Northern Kingdom. In the year or so since they last met, Donghyuck has grown taller, the rounded face of his youth chiseled into regal features. He and his sister are as different as night and day, with Donghyuck’s tanned skin more reminiscent of Jaemin’s warm homeland, but Jaemin notices dainty moles scattered on his cheek, similar to the mark beneath his sister’s eye.

Prince Donghyuck turns to Jaemin, who rises from his chair and dips into a respectful bow. “I did not have an opportunity to greet you at the banquet, your highness.”

“No need for such formality,” says Donghyuck flippantly, clapping Jaemin on the shoulder. “If you truly mean to go through with a wedding to this troll—” Heejin squawks in protest “—we’ll practically be brothers someday.”

“Don’t remind me,” huffs Heejin. “I don’t want to think about that.”

“No offense taken,” Jaemin deadpans.

“Don’t worry, sister dear,” Donghyuck snickers as he takes a seat next to Heejin, “marriage in name only. I’m sure you’ll be free to tumble as many stable boys as you choose as long as you keep it discreet.”

“ _Donghyuck,”_ protests Heejin, smacking him on the arm.

The Northern prince catches Jaemin’s eye, his dark irises glimmering with firelight and mirth. A smile tugs at the corners of Jaemin’s lips—small, but the first genuine smile he’s been able to muster in months.

***

Donghyuck kisses like a hurricane—demanding, devastating, destructive, but every so often the storm calms and allows Jaemin to catch his breath. He softens beneath Jaemin’s touch, curling toward him like a seedling stretching for the sunlight. It’s moments like these that Jaemin almost believes there could be something here, other than two lonely boys playing at intimacy.

“What are you thinking about?” Donghyuck asks, pulling away to look at Jaemin’s face.

“Only that we’re going to get along famously as brothers,” Jaemin answers smoothly.

Donghyuck wrinkles his nose, tugging himself free of Jaemin’s embrace and crossing his arms over his chest. “Are you ever going to let me live that down?”

“Doubtful.” A lazy smile creeps onto Jaemin’s face as he lets his eyes rove over the other prince. He’s always stunning with his perfectly tailored clothing and gleaming crown, but Jaemin likes him better this way: tousled hair, flushed cheeks, wrinkled shirt.

He wonders if Renjun thought the same of him.

***

The gardens of the Northern Palace are beautiful in a far different way than Jaemin is used to. There are no roses here, none of the creeping flowering vines that grow in the lush heat of the South. Instead, the second day of Jaemin’s visit finds him surrounded by evergreen shrubs and flowerbeds of snapdragons and daisies and a hundred other flowers he doesn't know the names for. He drinks in the sweet smell of juniper on the air, reveling in the mild sunshine, his book lying forgotten on his lap.

“If you stay here any longer, the gardeners might mistake you for a weed.” Donghyuck lowers himself to the grass beside Jaemin, seemingly uncaring for his fine clothes. Jaemin can’t fault him for that; the state of his own trousers would make his mother faint. “What are you doing out here?”

“Can’t a man appreciate nature without his motives being questioned?” Jaemin counters.

“Perhaps a man could, but a prince can do nothing without his motives being questioned.”

A startled laugh bursts free of Jaemin’s lips. “You’re right, Ren—” 

He freezes, the laughter freezing solid in his chest. For a moment, he was in a different garden with a different sharp-witted boy. He fiddles with the emerald ring on his finger. “I’m sorry,” he says around the ache in his throat. “You very much reminded me of someone else.”

Donghyuck tilts his head, his shrewd eyes seeming to see straight through Jaemin’s diplomatic mask to the seething mass of hurt tucked beneath the surface.

“You don’t want to marry my sister.”

Whatever Jaemin may have expected to hear, it wasn’t that. “Excuse me?”

“You’re heartbroken,” says Donghyuck emphatically. “You’ve fallen in love with someone else.”

Jaemin’s jaw hangs open for a full ten seconds before he manages to speak. “How—how could you possibly know that?”

The corner of Donghyuck’s mouth twitches in wry amusement. “We’re very similar creatures, you and I.”

***

“We could call off the engagement, you know,” Heejin says suddenly one evening. Summer is drawing to a close, the threat of autumn heavy in the air in a reminder that his visit will end soon.

Startled, Jaemin looks up from the letter he’s writing to his parents. He doubts they’d take the time to read it, but at least writing occupies his time. “What?” he asks, wondering if she’s joking.

“The engagement,” she repeats. “We don’t have to go through with it.”

“Of course we do, Heejin,” Jaemin sighs. “Our kingdoms—”

“Could have an alliance without a wedding,” she interrupts. “My father has no plans of invading your land, and I doubt Donghyuck will when he takes the throne. Would your parents wage war if I refused to marry you?”

“I don’t think so, but what about resources? Trade and industry?” Jaemin demands, remembering all the reasons his parents recited to him when he was betrothed at the sweet age of sixteen.

“You’re going to be king one day,” Heejin reminds him. “As will Donghyuck. You two can sort all that out without my help.”

Jaemin stares at her in disbelief. “One would think you simply don’t want to marry me.”

Heejin smiles then, warm and sweet, and Jaemin is reminded just how beautiful she is. “I’m the second child in the royal family, and a daughter at that. I’ve always known I’d be married off to some nobleman or another, and believe me Jaemin, you’re the best I could have hoped for.” Instead of fading at the thought, her smile turns devious, sharpening into something so similar to that of another young royal within these castle walls. “However, I cannot in good faith marry a man who is in love with my brother.” She gives him an encouraging pat on the cheek before slipping from the room, leaving Jaemin to stare at his hands. In the orange light of the fire, the emerald on his finger looks nearly black

_In love._

Is his heart, mangled and tattered as it is, even capable of that anymore?

***

“His name was Renjun.”

“His name was Mark.”

“He was a palace servant.”

“He was the son of a visiting nobleman.”

“It lasted three years.”

“It lasted one summer.”

“He’s happy now.”

Donghyuck exhales, long and slow. “I’m sorry.”

Jaemin tilts his face toward the sky, trying to pick out the constellations in the mess of stars scattered across the velvet night. “Don’t be. He deserves to be happy.”

“Jaemin.” Donghyuck’s fingers press against his cheek, gently forcing Jaemin to meet his gaze. “You deserve to be happy too.”

A constellation spills across Donghyuck’s cheek, stark in the moonlight.

Dimly, as Donghyuck’s breath ghosts across his lips, Jaemin wonders what stars taste like.

***

In the end, it's not a choice between two people. It's a choice between a person and the memory of one, a choice between an impossibility and a tiny, frail hope. As much as Jaemin wants to cling to Renjun, there's nothing to grasp but empty air. He suspects his feelings will always remain, a faded scar that no amount of time can fully heal, but it’s a scar he can learn to live with.

Maybe he’s making another mistake, maybe he’s hurtling head-first toward another heartbreak—but Donghyuck is here. He’s here, and he’s real, and however small the chance might be, there’s still a chance.

There’s still a hope that Donghyuck might choose him too.

***

The morning of Jaemin’s departure dawns clear and bright, summer making one last desperate grasp for control over the world. Although he knows the mountain pass may well fill with snow if he waits much longer, Jaemin can’t help but wish to stay just one more week.

The king and queen, as well as several knights and guards, accompany Heejin in seeing him off. Though he scans the small crowd several times, Jaemin sees no sign of the crown prince.

“No carriage?” the queen inquires.

“I prefer horseback, your majesty,” he replies, dipping his head respectfully. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

Niceties and well-wishes are exchanged, supplies are checked and double-checked, and Jaemin swings himself into the saddle. The ring on his finger seems to grow heavier as he scans the crowd one last time, just as he had back at the inn months ago.

Just as before, he doesn’t find what he seeks.

The horses plod between the gates of the palace walls, through the streets of the town, out into the evergreen forest that covers so much of the Northern Kingdom. To Jaemin, it is nothing but a blur, drowned out by the bone-deep ache that spreads from his chest, creeping slowly through his limbs.

“Do you hear that?” the captain of the guard asks suddenly, and Jaemin forces the buzzing in his ears to subside.

The dull clop of hooves on dirt carries through the woods, rapidly approaching.

“Stand ready,” the captain instructs, hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Jaemin peers curiously down the path, the way they’d come.

“Stand down,” instructs a firm, familiar voice. “I need to speak with the prince.”

“ _Donghyuck?”_ Jaemin blurts incredulously before remembering the surrounding guards. “I mean, your highness, what are you—”

“Jaemin,” Donghyuck interrupts, dismounting and pushing his way through the bystanders to Jaemin, who clambers off his horse as well.

“What?”

“Do you think it’s possible?” Donghyuck asks, pinning Jaemin beneath his gaze.

There is no need for clarification. Jaemin thinks of himself, his engagement, his broken heart, the peasant boy living on the coast. He thinks of Donghyuck, his kingdom, his sister, his ill-fated summer love. He thinks of the way Renjun laughed, the way Donghyuck’s eyes sparkle. He runs his thumb over the band of silver on his finger.

Maybe everything they've been through led them to each other, as though they were tied together from the beginning.

“Yes,” he answers, meeting Donghyuck’s blazing stare. “I think it’s possible.”

**Author's Note:**

> THE END  
> i hope you've all enjoyed this series as much as i have! really, i didnt plan on adding to the story after the first one, but i guess i just cant bear leaving things on a sad ending  
> please let me know your thoughts in the comments  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/see_thevision)  
> [instagram](https://www.instagram.com/riahsvision/)  
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/see_thevision)


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